"I was offered a lot of money for losing a Giro" - Eddy Merckx's revelation about the Giro d'Italia where he was disqualified for doping
CyclingMonday, 26 May 2025 at 11:00
The Giro d'Italia 2025 is in its last rest day. The Corsa Rosa will face its decisive week, in search of a winner to add to the list of historic winners of the grand tour. Right now, Isaac del Toro is the most likely to do so, and in the meanwhile sport legend Eddy Merckx has shared a story from his days back in the peloton.
The UAE rider would become the first Mexican in history to join the list of Giro winners, which is still led today by Eddy Merckx, along with Alfredo Binda and Fausto Coppi, with 5 victories.
Precisely, Merckx is the protagonist in this rest day of the Giro d'Italia. The man considered to be the greatest cyclist of all time recently gave an interview to Corriere della Serra, and made a shocking revelation about the 1969 edition of the Italian race.
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That year, Merckx was expelled from the Giro (won by Felice Gimondi) after testing positive for fencamfamin. To this day, the Belgian legend continues to deny the doping case, which rumors speak of a possible mafia action orchestrated against him.
In the aforementioned interview he states precisely that, that everything was due to the fact that he refused a bribe where he would be given a lot of money if he allowed himself to lose that Giro d'Italia.
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"I was offered a lot of money for losing a Giro, and Gimondi knew everything," Eddy Merckx began by revealing. "If I had accepted, maybe nothing would have come out positive for doping. But a Giro d'Italia is not for sale."
One of the bases on which Eddy Merckx's defense of his innocence is based is due to the fact that the Belgian had no need to resort to doping, because he already had victory almost in his hand:
"I was set up. I had practically won that Giro d'Italia. There was no point in doping me. It was a flat stage and I was leading," said Eddy Merckx on the subject.
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- Another retired pro desperate to cause a stir and add to the unending void of online ‘content’ Jonas has kids and leads the life he chooses, fair play to him. The others don’t and lead the lives they choose, fair play to them……For all the author of this article knows, they may want kids and it just hasn’t happened yet.Jezla10-06-2025
- Step up your game Freddy. The race doesn’t wait for you.b3tlla10-06-2025
- We never did know what magic Chris had in his inhalers all those years!frieders310-06-2025
- You mean Doper Chris Horner...only way he could have won that Vuelta at that age ! He's got zero credibility !frieders310-06-2025
- Ok, will do that whenever the next rainy day comes, if only to hear what they decided on saddle length ;-)Mistermaumau10-06-2025
- You have to watch the aforementioned video to get the humour. It makes fun of cyclists. Thick wallet isn't aero too according to that video. You have to empty your wallet to buy the high end Carvello.
KerisVroom10-06-2025 - Journo has never heard of "dad watts" apparentlySpicySalsa10-06-2025
- Not sure I get your humour but also not so sure that pregnant women are less aerodynamic. If you consider plane wings or the fact F. Schleck once got punished for hiding his camel back on his stomach, it could well turn out that stuffing a pillow into the front of your jersey reduces turbulence and thus makes you more aerodynamic.Mistermaumau09-06-2025
- How about a far simpler explanation - Jonas wanted to test whether his latest training program was effective?Mistermaumau09-06-2025
- If you say that, then you’re probably considering a pretty old-fashioned type of fathering but as you have no idea of Pogs’ (or Urska’s, assuming it would happen with her) conception of fathering, I don’t think you’re in a position to know what it would change for him, he might even de ide to retire completely to focus on family. In Denmark and quite a few countries now, fathers are expected to (and actually do) spend considerable time RAISING their children, that would affect EVERY riders’ training and more importantly, racing schedule and frequency. Luckily for cyclists, careers tend to end by the time riders reach optimal parenting age so most can and do put it off until after.Mistermaumau09-06-2025
It is certainly unbelievable that Merckx would ever have used doping.
And this story is further proof that he is innocent.
It is certainly unbelievable that Merckx would ever have used doping.
And this story is further proof that he is innocent.
Not sure which is worse, that or the punch that lost him the TdF? But really the guy should have 2 GTs more to his name.